60) Plastic Baggie Art

Recently we learned about mixing colors and The Bee is now an expert on the subject, in a way that only a three year old can be. So I thought she would enjoy this experiment I saw on The Artful Parent  called a Rainbow in a Bag. Except that I did something that I am often guilty of, I didn't read the directions. If I had fully read the directions I would have seen that the project used cornstarch, which of course we were out of. However, I had already mentioned the project to the Bee, so I had to improvise. I am happy to say our improvisation went very well. Inspired by our Bathtub Paints, I poured some clear hand soap into a plastic bag. Then guided by the Bee we added a few drops of food coloring in to the bag. We mixed one with yellow and red drops and one with red and blue drops, then sealed the bag closed. The Bee then smushed the bag all around mixing the colors up. She was delighted to see the new colors form! After the colors were all mixed up she spent some time drawing into the bag with her finger. This would probably be a fun way for an older child to practice writing their letters, but she enjoyed making shapes and lines. I do hope to try the Rainbow in a Bag project but in the meantime I am glad that to say that our improvisation led to a good discovery!

23) Fort Drawing

The dining room table fort continues to be a favorite in our house. So last Saturday when I came in to find the Bee and her Dad laying under the dining room table I wasn't the least bit surprised. However when I saw them both laying there with there arms up like this I was a little confused. My husband then proudly showed me the new addition to the fort. I want to say here that while I always thought my husband was cool, his coolness level went way up at this moment, since this was all his idea. He had taken a long roll of paper and taped it to the underside of the dining room table. He and the Bee were laying on the floor drawing on the ceiling. At the moment I came in they were discussing potential names for their fort to draw on the paper. Both the Bee and the Bean have been into the new fort drawing idea and the best part is that since it is under the table I am not worried about if they get some on the wood or having to put it away!

59) Felt Ball Garland

 

 A few years ago my friend Genie introduced me to the world of felting. Prior to this I had no idea about felting and it seemed like a very daunting task. However, what I quickly discovered is that felting is very easy, so easy even little kids can do it! The basic idea with felting is that you are taking wool fibers, called roving and rubbing them together under warm water so that the fibers shrink and intertwine to form a piece of felt. This week the Bee and I did some felting. This is a great activity for toddlers and preschoolers, it involves playing in the sink with soap and water and there is no way to mess up, because the more they play with the fibers the more felted they get. Felting is also a great way to teach kids about the process of taking sheep's wool and turning it into felt and yarn.
To make our felt ball garland, we begin by selecting some wool roving. If you don't have wool roving you can get it at most craft stores (Michael's, Jo-Ann's) in any specialty wool shop (there are a few great ones in Baltimore) or online. Roving is basically dyed and combed sheep's wool and comes in any color you could possibly want. We selected some warm colored roving for our garland, since I wanted it to be something that could be up for the holiday season but also stay on display for other times of year. I then separated strands of roving into clumps and wrapped the clumps around each other to form loose little balls. Then I added a little soap, we just used dish soap, to the clump and begin rolling it between the palms of my hand. If you have ever made balls like for cookies, meat balls, or even play dough, it is the same technique. I then rinsed the ball under warm water and rolled again repeating the process until I had a little felted ball. The Bee did a few balls but was mostly interested in playing with the ones I had made and making her own stuff out of the roving. I set a cutting board in a bowl of warm water so she could explore with the roving. She really liked rolling it out, like a worm and ended up with a bunch of felted strands, which look really neat. Once we had made a bunch of little balls, which doesn't take very long but does give your arms a good work out, we strung them together with a needle and thread to make a garland. The garland is currently hanging on our fireplace mantle but I hope to hang it upstairs once the holiday is over. I should also mention that there is a much easier way to make felted balls in mass, using an old stocking and your washing machine. I have used the washing machine technique before and it works great but is not nearly as fun for 3 year olds!

22) Roll, Bounce and Kick

Despite the fact that we spent our weekend hanging Christmas decorations, we spent yesterday afternoon running around outside without our coats. There is something about a 70 degree day in the winter (or almost winter) that seems so special. We took two large rubber balls into the yard with us and had a blast rolling, bouncing and kicking the balls. I took some photos of the girls but needless to say every one was a blur. Which I guess is a sign of a fun afternoon!

58) Bathtub Watercolor Paints

A few months ago we made some bath tub crayons and while they worked, they were not making the bathtub masterpieces I had hoped. Recently The Bee has been playing with a paint brush and foam paint roller in the bathtub. She loves painting the water on the walls and sides of the bathtub. Yesterday watching her do this made me think, how fun would it be if I could make some real bathtub paints for her. I went back to the bathtub crayons and thought what if they were liquid. I poured some clear Method hand soap (but you could probably use any clear soap, even a shampoo) into small plastic containers. Next I added a few drops of food coloring to each container. I then showed The Bee the new bathtub paints, she was so excited! The paints are actually very beautiful, and remind me of watercolors the way the colors blend together. She loved painting on the wall, tub and even her own arms. I loved that we just rinsed everything off at the end of the bath. I should add that I tested the paints out on our tub first just to make sure it didn't stain, I always worry that food coloring will stain. Especially an old tub like ours, but that hasn't been a problem.

57) Magnet Chalk Board

 Lately we have been all about magnets, mostly because we have been all about our new magnet chalkboard. Originally this was a leftover back from a Ikea Billy bookcase that has been hanging around our house for a while. I took the large piece of wood and gave it three coats of magnetic paint and three coats of chalkboard paint, both of which I bought at the Home Depot. I had never used the magnetic paint before and was amazed when it actually worked, although there is definitely some magnets that work better then others. I am not sure if that would have been better if I had used more layers of magnetic paint or if that is always the case. However, most of the magnets we have put on it have worked great. To test it out we made some fun popsicle stick magnets. We started by choosing some colored popsicle sticks and drawing patterns on them using black sharpie marker. I made two of each color/pattern, so we could play some matching games with them. I then stuck small pieces of magnet tape on the back of each end of the stick. The Bee and Bean have found lots of uses for these magnets matching them up, making trains, lines and suns with them. The magnet board is hanging on the wall in our office/art room and has been a great activity for The Bean when The Bee and I are working on a project that she is not quiet ready for yet.

45) Quiet Space

I have spent the last few minutes hemming and hawing about which category to put this post in. Ultimately I decided it should go in the Places to Go category because this has become a destination in our house. I started working on this quiet corner a few months ago after reading a post on Let the Children Play about creating a place for peace. As a teacher I always had a quiet place in my classroom. I love the idea of having a  area that kids can retreat to when they need to think, rest, or just decompress. However it never occurred to me to have one in my home, but once I started thinking about it I realized that The Bee and The Bean could benefit from a quiet place too! As a toddler and a preschooler they are often dealing with conflict, frustration and over stimulation. So teaching them to take time in a quiet space now to deal with those feelings is a skill they can benefit from now and in the future.
To build our quiet space I put all my best DIY skills to the test. I started the space by creating a canopy that can close to give the space a little more privacy. I begin this venture by hanging a heavy duty hook from the ceiling. Then using landscaping tubing (which we had in our garage but you could get at any hardware/home improvment store) I made a circle and taped the ends together with duct tape. I then screwed four screw into the top of the circle.Next I used a heavy duty string, cut four equal pieces which I tied to the screw then to the hook in the ceiling. Once my hoop was balanced and hanging I took the curtains I found at Ikea and ran a string through the tabs. I tied the string to the hook hanging from the ceiling and repeated the step for the other curtain. When the curtains were securely hanging from the ceiling I then sewed the two curtain together along the top portion so that they would stay over the hoop. To keep the curtains open I put two 3m hooks on the wall to use as curtain tie backs. I wanted to add some things for the girls to do in the quiet space, so I spray painted a few spice racks, also from Ikea, and hung them to hold the books. I originally saw this idea on Pinterest via Ohdeedoh. I then hung an abacus and made the collage numbers for a little decoration. A little floor mat and a few pillows and we had a new quiet space. The girls have already spent a ton of time here. They have used it as a place to play and as a place to read or sit quietly.

The landscpe tubing was soft enough
to easily push the screws in.

Sewing the curtains together at
the top helps to hold them closed
over the hoop.

Spice racks hold a lot of books and display
covers making it easy to find the book you want.
Faux metal 3M hook can easily be removed without
messing up the wall.

The abacus and numbers provide a few more
quiet activities to do in the space.

56) Marvelous Magnet Mansions

 The Bean has a new word, it is house. She loves to say it and finds  houses every where. Inspired by her new word I made the girls some house magnets with the leftover shrinky dinks from our sun catcher. The idea for the houses actually came from one of our current favorite books This is The House That Jack Built  by Simms Tabback. The book is a beautifully illustrated rendition of the classic children's rhyme and a fun one to read aloud to kids. The front and back pages of the book are filled with illustrations of all different kinds of houses. The thing I love most about the illustrations is how simple they are, the houses are all made using basic shapes like squares and rectangles. Using the illustrations as my inspiration I begin drawing houses with black sharpie marker right onto the shrinky dink plastic papers. Drawing the houses was fun, since I was just using simple shapes they were very easy to draw and I had a blast adding little details to each house. Once I was finished drawing the houses I colored them with crayons, cut them and placed them on a baking sheet. I then put them in a 350 degree oven for just a few minutes. The one thing you do want to watch in that the shrinky dinks don't curl and stick to each other. If they do start to curl and stick just pull them apart quickly while they are still hot and stick them back into the oven, the heat will flatten them back out. The shrinky dinks only take a few moments to shrink and cool very quickly. Once they had cooled I cut small pieces of magnet tape for the back of each house and stuck them on the fridge. Both the Bee and The Bean have loved aranging the houses and now the Bean gets to practice her new word every time she comes into the kitchen!

55) Patterned Collage Numbers

I have been working on a new quiet/reading space in our house and  while it is almost done it needed a little something else. So inspired by an abacus hanging on the wall, I made these collage numbers using patterned paper. I started by taking a bunch of small inexpensive frames from ikea and spray painted them all black. Then took a bunch of patterned papers and separated them into neutral patterns for the background and colored patterns for the numbers. To make the numbers I used a good, old teacher trick, taking 3x5 index cards, I drew each number into the rectangle, making sure my number touched all edges of the paper. This trick ensures that all the numbers are the same size. Once I had drawn all the numbers, I cut them out and traced them onto the colored pattern papers and cut those out. When the numbers were finished I inserted the neutral background and colorful number into the frame.  Then using strips of Velcro I hung them on the wall. They were just the finishing touch we needed. Check back soon to see a full post about our new quiet/reading space.

21) Sort Spoons

Getting ready for Thanksgiving means spending a little extra time in the kitchen. While I actually love cooking with my kids, I find cooking with my kids around to be one of the hardest things. So I am always looking for something the girls can safely do in the kitchen. Especially for the Bean who always keeps me company while I am working in there. So our most recent kitchen time activity has been sorting spoons. I take the plastic silverware caddy out of the dishwasher along with a handful of plastic spoons. The Bean loves putting all the spoons in the slots, dumping them out and sorting them again. This job keeps her busy for quite a while and the best part is when she is done, I take the caddy with spoons and stick it right into the dishwasher! What jobs do your kids enjoy doing in the kitchen? How do you keep kids busy while you are cooking?

54) Clothespin Wreath

We are excitedly getting ready to have our family over on Thursday for Thanksgiving. As part of our preparations we made a new clothespin wreath, that we will use as a thankful wreath on Thursday. I have traced and cut out copies of the girls hands on brown, yellow, red and orange construction paper. Everyone at our Thanksgiving will be invited to write or draw what they are thankful for onto one of the hands. We will then clip the hands onto our wreath! When Thanksgiving is over we will have one clothespin wreath that we will use as an advent calender taking one piece of paper off each day. Our other clothespin wreath hangs on our front door and we use it to hold and display all the holiday cards we receive. The clothespin wreath is very easy to make and both the Bee and Bean helped in making this one. We started with two large packs of wooden clothespins. You can find clothespins at any supermarket or dollar store. I then took a wire hanger, unraveled it and bent it into a circle.  Wrapping the ends together to hold the shape. I then dumped out all the clothespins, which the girls loved playing with. We begin clipping the clothespins onto the wire. You want the clips to hang from the center hole so that you can still open and clip something into the clothespin. It took approximately 90-100 clothespins to cover the entire wire hanger. I then took a ribbon and tied a loop to hang the wreath by.

20) Play Computer

While cleaning up this week I discovered an old and long forgotten computer keyboard. I pulled it out, laid it on the table and within moments both the Bee and Bean were excitedly typing away. To make the keyboard a little more exciting I found a piece of cardboard and propped it up with a cardboard strip to make a computer screen. It is funny that this new toy appeals to both girls but for very different reasons. The Bean enjoys pressing the buttons and hearing the clicking noise of the keys. The Bee however likes to work on the computer like a grown-up. This afternoon I came in to find her sitting at the table in front of her computer. When I asked her what she was working on she told me she was video chatting with her friends.

53) 5 Presents Kids Can Make for Grown-Ups

A friend and I recently had a discussion about what to get preschool teachers for the holidays. I told her that as a teacher my favorite holiday presents were always the ones that came from the heart and were clearly kid made. Last year the Bee and I made presents for her preschool teachers. She took such pride in making them and was so excited to give them to her teachers. She loved telling them all about how she made them, and it made the present even more special for both her and her teacher. Since the holidays are rapidly approaching I thought I would share five kid made (or mostly kid made) projects that would also be fun presents for teachers, grandparents, aunts, uncles or any other grown-ups. Click on the links below for the full description and how to of each project.

1) Fruit or Herb Soap: We actually made these at the end of last school year for the Bee's teachers and they loved them. You can use any fruit or herb and pour them into any shape mold. I recently saw some cute snow flake plastic molds that would make fun winter holiday soaps!

2) Letter Sculptures: Made from recycled cardboard, plastic cups and brown paper tapes, these sculpture letters are easy to make and there are so many things you can do with them. I made the form for our letters, but older kids could definitely make the letter with little help. Once the cardboard letter is made there are so many possibilities with how to decorate. You can paint, decoupage, color, etc and kids can really take charge of the decorating! The letter would look great on a teacher desk or bookshelf.

3) Milliflore Bead Necklace/Bracelets or Ornaments: We made these this summer with a group of kids ranging from 3-12 years old and everyone of them was able to make their own and had a great time making them. Using a clay like sculpey or fimo you can use the milliflore technique to make beads that can be strung into a bracelet or necklace. You could also use the same technique to make larger ornaments or decorations.

4) Shrinky Dink Sun Catchers: This project is quick, easy to make and looks really impressive when it is done. The Bee did all the coloring for this project and got a huge kick out of watching the shrinky dinks in the oven. The finished sun catcher looks beautiful hanging in a window or could make a cool ornament for a tree.

5) Sandbox Plaster Cast Hands: We are about to make these as our annual grandparent ornament. Every year we make an ornaments for the girls grandparents and this year we are going to make the plaster casts of their hands. Fun and easy to make these can easily be made into ornaments simply by sticking a straw into the plaster while it is drying and then running yarn or ribbon through the straw to hang with. I like the sand on the hands but you could also paint them for a more festive look.

Here are a few more ideas that could be really fun:
- holiday mix CD with you child's artwork on the cover
- cookies, getting kids to help bake and decorate is always fun. Or just have them decorate a special box or tin to put cookies in.
- decorate a ceramic pot with paint or markers and then put in a plant, seeds or even candies.

Do you have any favorite kid made holiday projects? What is the best kid made present you have ever received?

52) Squirt and Roll Painting

 

We had a great time today making a huge mess! Another rainy day and two grumpy little girls with runny noses meant that we needed to have some fun and shake it up a little. So we begin by taping some large sheets of paper to the table. I then got out some jars of almost empty tempera paint and added a little water to each jar, just to make the paint a little more runny. Next I pulled out several medicine syringes, the kind that now come with every bottle of children and infants Tylenol, so needless to say we have quite a few. I filled the syringes up with paint and gave them to the girls. The Bee was beyond excited to squirt hers out on the paper. The Bean wasn't able to squirt hers by herself but thought it was hysterical when I squirted it out onto her paper. After they had squirted some paint onto their paper I gave them each a piece of a cardboard tube. I had wrapped a bunch of different sized rubber bands around the tube to create some fun textures. I originally saw a version of this using a rolling pin on Irresistible Ideas for Play Based Learning . The Girls then rolled their tubes all around the paper, mixing colors, splattering paint and making patterns and textures. The Bean also found other uses for her tube stamping the end of it and talking through it like a bull horn, both of which she thought were pretty funny. The finished paintings turned out beautifully but even more importantly we all had a lot of fun and were all a little less grumpy by the end!

51) Sculpture Letters

 The Bee is becoming more and more interested in letters, particularly what she calls "your letter" meaning the first letter of your name. She likes to ask people what their letters are and loves when they have the same letter as someone she knows! So to encourage the letter interest I thought it would be fun to make "your letter" sculptures for the Bee and Bean. I have made these before with 3-5th grade students and originally saw this project in the Dick Blick catalog a few years ago. The also have the project on their website with a helpful video. This is another one of those projects I love because most of the material I already had on hand. I started by taking an empty cereal box and opening it into a flat piece of cardboard. Then on the front of the box drew the letter I wanted, in this case an N. Next I cut out the N and traced it onto the back of the box. I then had two identical cardboard N's. To make the sculpture 3-dimensional I used small plastic dixie cups I had leftover from a party, you could also use plastic condiment cups. I layed the cups out on the N, alternating direction (up and down) to add some strength and stability. Once I had layed them out I glued them down with Elmers glue, and then glued other N on top to create a sandwich. Once the glue had dried, I was ready to wrap the sculpture. To wrap the sculpture I used brown paper packing tape, this is pretty inexpensive and can be found in most office supply stores or even sometimes at the post office. One roll goes a long way, so you probably don't need more then that. To use the tape you tear or cut off pieces and then dip a sponge in water, ringing it out to get the sponge damp. Then run the damp sponge along the sticky side of the tape to activate the glue. Wrap the tape around the form, being sure not to pull to tight, and smooth down with your fingers. The corners and edges can be a little tricky to wrap but if you think of it like wraping a present and fold down or cut off edges were needed it is pretty easy. Also know that you are probably going to put another layer on top so any bumps or lumps won't be as noticable. You want to wrap the entire letter, with 1-2 coats of brown paper tape and let dry.  Once the letter is dry the real fun begins, you could decorate the letter however you want, and there are so many possibilites. I wanted to make sure that I chose a decoration technique that the Bee could do, so I got out some green tissue paper, which she and I tour up into little pieces. For her this could have been all we did and she would have been happy. I then poured a little Elmers glue into a bowl and mixed it with a little water, just enough to make it spreadable with a paint brush. I showed the Bee how to paint the glue onto the surface, then put a piece of paper down and paint over top with the glue again. She picked this up very quickly and was off. The beauty was that she couldn't mess up. The more wrinkles and layers the better it looked. She worked for a long time and when she lost interest I finished the hard parts like the corners. After letting the glue dry I added a quick coat of Modge Podge just to keep it all together and give it a little sheen. The finished letters are going on display in the girls rooms.

5) Books We Spend Hours Looking At

For the last few months we have spent a lot of time just looking at books. Particularly large books with very busy illustrations filled with lots to look at. I can remember loving these books as a kid, sitting up in bed long after I was supposed to be sleeping, studying Richard Scary books and discovering new details I hadn't noticed the first 100 times I looked at the book. I love looking at these books with the Bee too. Sometimes we play "I Spy" and sometimes we take turns describing what we see to each other. However, my favorite part of these books is that they never grow old, we keep coming back to them time and time again, discovering that we never run out of something new to look at.




1) Zoo-ology- By Joelle Jolivett
This over sized book is hard to fit into a book shelf but perfect for spreading out on the floor. Every page is over filled with incredible illustrations of every kind of animal you could every think of. A great resource for learning about new animals, at home or at school, for kids of all ages!
2) Almost Everything - By Joelle Jolivett
By the same author this book is also filled with beautiful illustrations. Each page has a different theme and is filled with tons of pictures about that theme. For example on the page about transportation there is illustration after illustration of different types of transportation from around the world and through out time. This book is also over sized and great for sitting together and looking at.
3) The Art Book for Children By The Editors of Phaidon Press
Both The Art Book One and Two are filled with images of works of art that you can't help looking at. From sculptures to painting from Cave Painting to Abstraction the works of art are accompanied by some information about the art or artist. I often find that the text answers the questions that the Bee asks or provide a great starting point for a conversation.
4) In the Town All Year Round By Rotraut Susanne Berner
While I love all the books in this post this one is most definitely my favorite. The book follows a small town through the four seasons of the year. Each season shows the same scenes from the town but with the people doing stuff specific to that season. One of our favorite things to do in this book is to select a character and see if we can find them on each page, you become amazingly connected to the characters in this town and I find myself talking with the Bee about them as if they are old friends of ours.
5) What do People Do All Day? By Richard Scarry
This classic has been a favorite for generations, and continues to be a hugely popular book in our house. We love looking at all the jobs that people do, seeing how plumbing works and how they make bread. Filled with words and pictures this is a good book for identifying and games like "I Spy."

50) Contact Paper Collage

A

 


I am always on the lookout for a good art project for the Bean. She is 17 months and still puts a lot of stuff in her mouth so it can be a little tricky to find something that she is interested in and is safe for her. So today for the 30 Days of Hands on Play Challenge to make sticky art I was excited to find a project perfect for her. We started by rolling out a sheet of clear contact paper on the table, sticky side up. She kept touching the paper and then pulling her fingers off and looking at them. She was fascinated by the sticky paper. I then gave her a bunch of pieces of cut and torn construction paper. She quickly discovered that if she put them on the contact paper they would stick. Once she was done putting papers on I took another piece of clear contact paper and covered her collage. The final result was a great bean made collage that looks beautiful in the window!

19) Play with Pots and Pans

Recently the Bean has been quietly sneaking away to the kitchen to pull all the pots and pans out of the cupboard every chance she gets. Every time I come in and see her on the floor surrounded with the pots and pans it makes me smile. Playing with pots and pans seems like such a classic childhood activity and in watching her play I can see the appeal. The pans are large, they make loud noises and there are lots of them. However I think the most appealing thing to her is the different sizes. She loves stacking the pots into one another and trying to find the right lid  to fit each pot. Do your kids play with pots and pans? Do they have another house hold item they love to pay with?

18) Dig in the Dirt

What started off as a chore I have been putting off for weeks turned out to be a morning of fun, sensory play. If you have been following the 30 days of Hands on Play todays challenge was to play in a sensory tub. We took that challenge outside using the garden as our sensory tub. This past spring and summer we grew a vegetable garden that has long since passed it's prime and become an overgrown mess in our backyard. We went outside with the intention that I would do some work in the garden and the girls would play in the yard but as always happens we all ended up in the same place. It turned out the Bee and The Bean were awesome helpers. They had a great time digging, raking, filling up containers with dirt and dumping them back out. They also helped me to pull out the plants and weeds and put them into the wheelbarrow. We spent a lot of time sifting dirt and looking for left over tomatoes and carrots in the soil. When it was time to come in for lunch we were all a mess, always a  sign of a good morning!

17) All About Playgrounds (playground day, playground tour and playground sites)

Playing at Glasgow Park in Delaware
on our Playground Tour Road trip!

For the last few moths we have been on a Playground Tour, visiting over 20 playgrounds in the Baltimore area. As you can probably imagine, we have learned a lot about playgrounds along the way! so I thought I would share some of our favorite playground resources.
The Playground Tour has been a lot of fun! It has given us something to do, gotten us to spend time together outside, taken us to new places we may not have visited otherwise and introduced us to some new friends along the way. If you are in the Baltimore area and looking for a playground to visit here is a complete list of the playgrounds we have visited on our tour: http://childhoodlist.blogspot.com/2011/09/28-playground-tour-2011.html
Each stop includes a few photos and some info about the playground as well as a link for directions on how to get there.
If you are not in the Baltimore area but are looking for some playgrounds in your area check out Here are some resources for you:
Kaboom: is a website where you can find playgrounds by location. You can also read reviews of the playground and see pictures. Kaboom has a free playground app, that is very handy for finding a playground when you are out and about.
Playgroundology and Playground Chronicles:  Great resources for all things playground! On the left hand side of both sites you will find playground sites and blogs dedicated to playgrounds.

100+ Top Resources for Play: This site actually has a list of 300 (and growing) sites about play. A great resource for anyone interested in play.

So if you are thinking about doing your own playground tour or just getting out to visit a local playground here are a few more resources that you might want to check out:

5 reasons to take a playground tour: 5 reasons why to go on a playground tour

M Is for Monkey Bars: Getting Ready for Writing: a great post from Moving Smart about the importance of playground play for the development of muscles and motor skills that are important in writing.


Playscapes: A Blog About Playground Design: Look at all these cool playgrounds from all over the world!

Active Kids Network: A site all about outdoor play with resources for starting your own outdoor playgroup, and outdoor play ideas for all seasons. Next week (November 14-21) they are celebrating "Everyday Is Play Day" and encouraging families to play outside everyday, going on a mini playground tour could be a fun way to spend time outdoors everyday!

Finally have a playground play day. Last weekend we invited a bunch of friends to come play with us at our local playground. It turned out to be a beautiful day and we had quite a few friends come out and play. We had a great time and it was such a fun and easy event I hope to do it again soon!

49) DIY Texture Combs for Painting

These DIY Cardboard Painting Combs were easy to make and perfect for little hands to paint with. Inspired by plastic painting combs I have seen before, I took pieces of heavy duty cardboard and cut them into small rectangles. I then cut the edge of one side of the cardboard, making a variety of different combs with different thinnesses and thicknesses. Next we put some paint into a tray and dipped the cut edges into the paint. The Bee then ran the comb along the paper creating a striped texture. She then painted on the paper with a brush and tried running the comb through the painting which created some cool lines and patterns. While I made them with the intention of using them to paint lines and textures the Bee quickly came up with her own preferred method. She painted directly onto the cardboard and then used the cardboard combs like a stamp! This also created some cool textures and patterns and I loved seeing her   own creative technique!